4 ms·

With only a few changes you can modify the board to allow full 1 meg of ram too.

vidarh 9y ago
It takes a bit more than "a few changes". The C64 only has 16 address lines, and the 6510/8510's used only has 16 address lines. There's no physical way of putting more RAM on the board, and no physical way of letting the CPU address them even if you were to try abusing the IO lines etc. To add more RAM you either need to add a second CPU (some cartridges add another CPU), replace the 6510 with a board with a 16bit CPU + RAM, address it via some form of bank switching, or copy to/from main memory (this is what Commodore's memory expansion cartridges did [1]). Commodore's own memory expansion cartridges even required a separate power supply to power it... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_REU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_REU
- SwellJoe 9y ago
  When I got back into tinkering with C64 hardware a few years ago, I thought, "Ooh, I can finally afford to buy an REU!" And, I could because I make more money than 12 year old me, but they're often as expensive today as they were when they were new! Luckily, there's a small but thriving industry of hardware hackers making new C64 stuff...and you can get an entire computer (an FPGA) to stick on the back of your C64 which can act as a CPU accelerator, RAM expansion, fast/huge disk drive, VGA port, etc. Turbo Chameleon is maybe the most successful of them. It's a bit more expensive than a real REU on ebay, but it's probably all the hardware one would ever need for C64 expansion (and it's new hardware, so likely to hold up a lot better).
  - vidarh 9y ago
    The Chameleon is fantastic, but as you point out, if you connect it to a C64, the C64 is basically reduced to an IO device... On the upside, you can also use it to run a bunch of other cores including Amiga cores.
    - SwellJoe 9y ago
      Yeah, I haven't bought one yet. They've always been out of stock at times when I was actively doing C64 stuff. And, I mostly use mine for music, and I have a MSSIAH cartridge in the slot for that...so, no room (or need, really) for anything else. And, I just want it for the SID most of the time. But, I have a dream that I'll someday have enough free time to actually dig in and do more than just occasionally tinker with my 64. Also, I'm super excited for the MEGA 65. I'll make time to play with it when it becomes available.
      - jmull 9y ago
        Wow! I hadn't heard about the MEGA65 project. It would be amazing if they could complete it.

It takes a bit more than "a few changes". The C64 only has 16 address lines, and the 6510/8510's used only has 16 address lines. There's no physical way of putting more RAM on the board, and no physical way of letting the CPU address them even if you were to try abusing the IO lines etc. To add more RAM you either need to add a second CPU (some cartridges add another CPU), replace the 6510 with a board with a 16bit CPU + RAM, address it via some form of bank switching, or copy to/from main memory (this is what Commodore's memory expansion cartridges did [1]). Commodore's own memory expansion cartridges even required a separate power supply to power it... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_REU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_REU

SwellJoe 9y ago
When I got back into tinkering with C64 hardware a few years ago, I thought, "Ooh, I can finally afford to buy an REU!" And, I could because I make more money than 12 year old me, but they're often as expensive today as they were when they were new! Luckily, there's a small but thriving industry of hardware hackers making new C64 stuff...and you can get an entire computer (an FPGA) to stick on the back of your C64 which can act as a CPU accelerator, RAM expansion, fast/huge disk drive, VGA port, etc. Turbo Chameleon is maybe the most successful of them. It's a bit more expensive than a real REU on ebay, but it's probably all the hardware one would ever need for C64 expansion (and it's new hardware, so likely to hold up a lot better).
- vidarh 9y ago
  The Chameleon is fantastic, but as you point out, if you connect it to a C64, the C64 is basically reduced to an IO device... On the upside, you can also use it to run a bunch of other cores including Amiga cores.
  - SwellJoe 9y ago
    Yeah, I haven't bought one yet. They've always been out of stock at times when I was actively doing C64 stuff. And, I mostly use mine for music, and I have a MSSIAH cartridge in the slot for that...so, no room (or need, really) for anything else. And, I just want it for the SID most of the time. But, I have a dream that I'll someday have enough free time to actually dig in and do more than just occasionally tinker with my 64. Also, I'm super excited for the MEGA 65. I'll make time to play with it when it becomes available.
    - jmull 9y ago
      Wow! I hadn't heard about the MEGA65 project. It would be amazing if they could complete it.